A known process for producing fluorine-containing propene, such as 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO-1234yf), comprises reacting chlorine-containing propane or chlorine-containing propene, which is used as a starting material, with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride in a gas phase in the presence of a catalyst, such as chrome oxide and fluorinated chrome oxide.
In this process, fluorine-containing propanes, such as 1,1,1,2,2-pentafluoropropane (HFC-245cb), are produced, in addition to the target fluorine-containing propene. Such fluorine-containing propanes can be converted to fluorine-containing propenes by dehydrofluorination, and are therefore useful as precursors of HFO-1234yf or other fluorine-containing propenes.
A known process for producing fluorine-containing propene from fluorine-containing propane, such as HFC-245cb, comprises, for example, subjecting HFC-245cb to dehydrofluorination, thereby producing HFO-1234yf (see PTL 1, listed below). In this process, HFO-1234yf is reportedly produced at a conversion of about 70 to 90% and with a selectivity of about 40 to 70%, by subjecting HFC-245cb, which is used as a starting material, to dehydrofluorination in the presence of activated carbon or activated carbon on which Ni, Pd, Pt, etc. are supported.
Additionally, there is a known process for producing HFO-1234yf by dehydrofluorination using fluorinated alumina or porous carbon as a catalyst (see PTL 2, listed below).
In these processes, however, the conversion of starting materials and the selectivity of fluorine-containing propene are not sufficient; particularly, further improvement in selectivity is required.